NAB Starts at the Weekend

The NAB Show, “where content comes to life,” but with a splintering TV market how are you going to get people to watch it?

I just checked out the NAB Convention website: http://www.nabshow.com/2013/about/. I read the bumph and looked at the video, but I still get the feeling that despite staggering leaps in technology, the NABShow is either deliberately missing the real point of all this or, like the broadcast industry itself, is keeping their heads (to use the polite metaphor) in the sand.

The PR buzz-word is Broader-casting®. Note the registered trademark symbol. That’s their’s, not mine. They see the fragmentation of the industry as a broader approach to the communications process. In fact the splinters are making connections narrower, “broadcasting” continues to narrow as more and more content moves to the web. The latest example is Monday’s court decision supporting the migration of over the air broadcast to the web with Aereo, Barry Diller’s new venture.

The NAB looks down the wrong end of the telescope and sees an expanding industry moving into new areas. Looking from the consumer end of that same instrument, the view is of diminishing impact and importance of that iconic “broadcaster.” The real issue is narrow-casting and how to get individuals who aren’t limited to just 7 channels (that’s what I grew up with in New York) to turn to you. Because if you can get that person to come back, you now have a salable commodity for eager advertisers. But nobody has found that magic formula, yet.

So beware the “broadercaster®” and let’s take a look at the broader-viewer who has an infinite number of choices and they all seem to be migrating to the web.

FYI: You won’t find me back at the NAB until the technology deals with the reality of diversification.